Never mind the cost ... what about loss of availability, and the idiocy of not allowing in-house biomeds to exercise their skills for the benefit of all concerned (otherwise why are they there)?
Situations like this have been going on for as long as I can remember, and I doubt that they will be coming to an end any time soon. More the reverse, I suspect.
As I have said a
zillion times before:- the time to insist that "all available technical information shall be provided" is when the Purchase Order is about to be signed!
And it is no good manufacturers hiding behind "commercial confidences" (as I suspect may be the case here) - or even embarrassment (about poor design). In short, if they don't want to provide circuit diagrams, we should look elsewhere rather than purchasing their kit (British or not)!
Meanwhile, the biomed tech still has to do his thing. But at least these days we have forums like this one where there is hope that the required information (in cases like this) may be available to be shared. As many will remember, it wasn't always a whole lot of fun when you were struggling on alone, with the "suits", "bosses" and surgeons all yelling away at you - especially when many situations were caused by them in the first place!